How baseball and poker can teach us about climate change

From our overstocked archives Sam Smith, 2009  - One thing is clear as the climate change debate chugs along: we need to teach math better in our schools. And it wouldn't hurt if journalism schools taught some math as well. For example, it is apparent that those who argue that one good snow storm destroys …

The environmental racket over numbers

Sam Smith There’s a strange debate rising to the surface, driven a distrust by traditional environemntalists of those who see population policy as far more important than most – including many ecologists – think. There is actually no reason one can’t use a condom in the back seat of a hybrid or under a solar …

A poker player’s guide to environmental risk assessment

Originally published in 1997 in Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual (WW Norton) Sam Smith Some simple rules 1. Calculate the stakes as well as the odds. 2. The odds of something happening at any moment are not the same as the odds of something ever happening. In ecological calculations -- especially ones in …

The metaphor spill

Sam Smith - The establishment is struggling to gain metaphorical control over the BP oil spill. It feels entitled to control metaphors just as much as it does oil drilling policy and doesn't it like when the non-establishment comes up with its own. Thus Chris Matthews goes berserk when anyone refers to the present government …

CONSERVATIVE GROUP DENIES HUMAN ROLE IN TRAFFIC JAMS

Progressive Review -  Fresh from raising serious questions about the human role in climate change, a conservative group - People for Driving - has challenged the widely-held belief that people cause traffic jams. They argue that tie-ups are the result of the natural and random ebb and flow of cars. The argument has already raised …

What baseball and poker can teach us about climate change

Sam Smith One thing is clear as the climate change debate chugs along: we need to teach math better in our schools. And it wouldn't hurt if journalism schools taught some math as well.  For example, it is apparent that those who argue that one good snow storm destroys the case for climate change never …

OF PORCUPINES & SEX

Sam Smith I was on my way home the other evening and had just passed through the woods when I found my way blocked by two porcupines in the middle of the road, sitting on their hind legs and embracing each other. I carelessly leapt to the conclusion that this was how porcupines dealt with …